Vengerov
Joseph Vengerov is the current CEO of Obsidian Corp and of LM Lymer Fleet. Appearance Vengerov is a tall fair-skinned man of fair hair, and eyebrows so pale, they are nearly invisible. He is of Russian descent. Personality Vengerov is a cold cruel individual who hides his true emotions behind a calm face. He has the brutality to install a transmitter into the head of Yuri Sysevich knowing full well that it would cause his death if it was removed. Another example is his willingness to lock Tom outside in the frigid outdoors of the antarctic. He is manipulative enough to use Yuri Sysevich as a way to sabotage Blackburn. He also showed no empathy or regard for human life when he (spoilers!) knocked an asteroid called the Cruithne out of orbit and psychologically tortured Tom for over a year. History Before Insignia His true name was Ivan, also known as Vanya, a marginalized child whose father tested the neural processor in. He had a mental disorder as a child that slowed his ability to learn and read, and was severely bullied for it. The only person he saw as a friend was his brother Joseph, the one person who protected him in a world that hated him for reasons that Ivan could not understand. After gaining all the intellectual abilities and insight the neural processor installation provides, Ivan saw the world clearly for the first time, and he saw it as a horrible place where people have to push others down to get higher in society, where people hurt and stepped on the different and the weak, while the bigoted and cunning ruled the companies that ruled the world. Ivan saw the world with a cold, machine-like lense after getting the processor, and because of his troubled childhood did not gain or learn what is so great about kindness and empathy. He then changed his name and identity to Joseph Vengerov sometime after getting a neural processor installed in his head, when the rest of his family died suspiciously and young Ivan was presumed dead. After Ivan faked his death and assumed the identity of Joseph, he took over as CEO of L. M. Lymer Fleet. His mother was never mentioned, but Vengerov's father was Alexi Vengerov. Vengerov also had once owned a pet rabbit when he lived with his family at the countryside dacha (where Tom later finds him hiding. In Catalyst, the rabbit from Vanya's memories was also referred to as Ushanka, a key part in Tom assuming the alternate identity of Vanya in the events of Vengerov's capsule). Vengerov was originally head of LM Lymer Fleet; however he absconded with the technology of the neural processor. Once under Indo-American protection, Vengerov tested the technology of the processor on a group of soldiers, one of which was Major James Blackburn . After learning of the effects of the neural processor on adult minds he turned his attention to younger candidates. Some time before the start of the series Vengerov had a neural processor implanted into his own head. Insignia Vengerov debuts during parents day, when he is seen with Yuri Sysevich. Later, his named is mentioned in conjunction to the software Dominion Agra used to control Tom . The last time he appears, it again is by name. When Blackburn is interrogating Tom, he becomes fanatical when Tom mentions that he's heard the name before. Vortex Vengerov's role in Vortex is much more prominent. He is the only remaining Coalition leader whom Tom has not alienated. At first meeting, he takes Tom for a ride in his limo after challenging Tom's father to a game of roulette. He offers Tom a chance at becoming a combatant if Tom does a simple task for him. He needs to infect Medusa with a virus to stop her from accessing the Internet. Tom, while fully intending to refuse, says that we would consider it. Vengerov is next seen when Tom and the rest of the Middles go to Antarctica for the Obsidian Corp meet-and-greet. During the visit, Vengerov cuts Tom off from the group by sending Praetorians after him. He leads Tom outside and promptly locks him outside. After Tom suffered outside to the point where he loses his fingers to frostbite, he is found and brought inside by Blackburn and Vik. After a brief confrontation between Vengerov and Blackburn, Tom is led back to the Pentagonal Spire. Later, Tom confronts Yuri Sysevich and triggers a semi-autonomous security daemon. Vik calls Blackburn and Blackburn attempt to force Yuri down. Failing that, he threatens to use the secrets in Yuri's processor to expose Obsidian Corp's involvement. Without hesitation, the remote administrator detonates the processor inside Yuri's skull. When Tom infiltrates Obsidian Corp and tries to interface with the system, he instead is pulled into the processor of Vengerov, and Vengerov realizes that there are intruders in Obsidian Corp. Vengerov then mobilizes a mechanical army of fifty Praetorian drones to slaughter the trespassers. The attack would've succeeded if Medusa had not intervened. She destroys the supercomputer controlling Yuri's transmitter and flies the group away. Vengerov's final appearance in the book is as he watches the footage of Tom unleashing his virus on Medusa. He applauds Tom and asks him what call sign he would like when he became a Combatant. Tom replies "Cyanide." '''Catalyst Vengerov's role in Catalyst starts off when General Marsh is fired and replaced with General Mozilo, who is way different than Marsh and authorizes/supports ideas and plans that Marsh would never have allowed. Things start to change around the Spire, as shown with the arrival of three new plebes in the Pentagonal Spire, who later become Tom's plebes. They were given Austere-Grade processors instead of Vigilant-Grade processors, a new (experimental) creation of Vengerov's. If successful, the easier-to-administrate Austere-Grade processors could be snuck into the world's water and food supply, allowing Vengerov to reprogram and gain complete mind control over everyone in the world. Two things then take place: First, Vengerov continues his hunt for the ghost in the machine. At the end of Vortex, Vengerov had gotten his theory that Medusa was the ghost disproved, leaving him at a loss. Therefore Vengerov offers to sponsor Tom in the hopes of getting more information about the ghost from him. Second, someone is using the identity of the ghost in the machine to simultaneously kill off the world's main elite and to destroy Obsidian Corps. reputation in the process. That person turns out to be Blackburn, and between the fear from the elite and the shocking news that Joseph Vengerov heads L.M Lymer fleet and Obsidian Corp., Vengerov's reputation is almost completely decimated. Because of the legal battles he was facing, Vengerov had to remove the three plebes with his experimental processors from the Spire, and had to withdraw his offer to sponsor. With his reputation in flames and his plans/projects crumbling around him, Vengerov decides desperate times call for desperate measures and knocks the asteroid Cruithne out of orbit, knowing that the world has enough technology to damage the Cruithne and save a fair amount of the world's population. If the Cruithne also drew out the ghost in the machine, that would also be a win for Vengerov. After the Cruithne, Vengerov took Medusa's credit and claimed to have saved the world himself. Vengerov also justified running his two companies with a picture of him holding the old flag of all the multination companies, not just the Indo-American and the Russo-Chinese companies. The propaganda showed Vengerov as a man of the world, a man who valued unity. Right before the winter holidays, after the Cruithne, Tom Raines formed a plan with Ossare to go to his moms long enough for the military to know he was there, and then strike out to go to his dads. At his moms, Tom unearths the secret about why his mom really left Niel for Dalton, why Tom did not grow up to be like his mother (as in suffering from a mental illness with symptoms like delusions and hallucinations), and what Vengerov had to do with his mo'ms current condition. It turns out that Neil gave Tom and Delilah(Tom's mom) away to Vengerov, who then gave them both neural processors (and in Tom's case, a neural graft). Delilah suffered from seizures just like all the other adults did, and Vengerov had parts of her brain removed until the seizures stopped. Delilah ended up losing most of her frontal lobe, and was given to Dalton, who was free to reprogram her as he pleased. Tom found all of this out, and before trying to run away with his mom he force-fed Dalton an Austere-Grade processor. Before he left, Tom overheard a conversation between Dalton and Joseph Vengerov, in which Vengerov offered Dalton the position of CEO of Dominian Agra once his new neural processor crossed the blood-brain barrier, and told Dalton to stall Tom so that Vengerov could speak with him. Tom tried to leave, but ended up getting stuck up on the roof with the building with no remote-access node, and nothing to shield him from Vengerov's questions. On the rooftop, Vengerov revealed that in the confusion of the Cruithne aftermath, he had taken Niel hostage and given him an Austere processor. The only way for Tom to save and free his father was to answer Vengerov's question, and tell the Russian oligarch who the ghost in the machine was. Unwilling to give Medusa or Blackburn away, Tom told Vengerov that he was the ghost, and lied that he had killed all the executives, all by himself. Asking for proof, Vengerov tossed Tom a restraining node, a node that only someone like Tom could remove. Tom proved that he really did have the rare ability that the ghost in the machine possessed by shorting out the node, and told Vengerov to let his dad go or Tom would jump off the roof and Vengerov would not get to use his ability, or find out how it worked. Vengerov agreed, but before having Niel released, he had all of Neil's memories of Tom erased. A possible explanation for why Vengerov did this was to prevent Niel from searching for after Tom disappeared, captured by Vengerov. After Niel was released and Tom hopped to the safety of the rooftop, Vengerov revealed a stun gun and rendered Tom unconciuos. At Obsidian Corp.s, Vengerov explored Tom's brain and found out that his ability was due to the neural graft he had received as a child, not because of the processor itself. Vengerov had to use Tom's ability through Tom. Before Tom woke up after his brain was explored, Vengerov put a costum-made restraining node into his neural access port, one that stopped Tom from interfacing and shorting it out. Vengerov's first attempt to gain control over Tom by reprogramming failed when a Trojan in the back of Tom's processor activated, and Tom's processor was put into read-only mode by James Blackburn. Forcibly taking Tom's processor out of read-only mode would kill him, an effective way of making sure no one would ever reprogram Tom. Blackburn foiled Vengerov's next attempt at gaining control over Tom by appearing in Tom's vision center through the neural link, and informing him about what neural sovereignty was, and why Vengerov would try and get it from him. The key to giving neural sovereignty to someone is cooperation, something that Tom would never willingly do as long as he was aware. The situation had become a battle of wills between Vengerov and Tom, and since Vengerov's second attempt of trying to trick Tom into unknowingly giving up his neural sovereignty by offering him his favorite pizza failed, Vengerov was forced to use psychological stressors and mind games to test Tom's resolve and get him to willingly give up his neural sovereignty. While Tom is at Obsidian Corp (in Antartica), Vengerov takes away everything that Tom had downloaded at the Pentagonal Spire. Knowledge is power, and Vengerov did not want Tom to have access to any information that could possibly help Tom fight him, or even possibly help Tom escape. Vengerov also puts Tom under the census device at a low setting, knowing full well that Tom will show and give only the memories that make his happiest, thinking that Vengerov would have no use for them. The only things Tom omits are his fears and any mention of Medusa. The next time Tom awakes is in an enclosure. After a brief conversation with Vengerov, Tom learns that he is in a modified hospital efficiency unit. Vengerov can see and hear Tom whenever he chooses, and Tom will only be able to talk to or see Vengerov whenever Vengerov allows him to. Tom no longer has his fingers, and is fed and given water through a feeding tube, since he had refused to eat the pizza. Tom also can not hurt himself at all, or touch his feeding tube or even the back of his neck due to the restraining node. Even Tom's sleep schedule is altered to be unpredictable and unreliable. After enough time in total isolation, Tom grows lonely enough to apologize to Vengerov, even though he hates himself for it. That is the first time Tom is let out of the enclosure, and also the first time Tom bends to Vengerov's will by opening the curtains to the window, so desperate was he to see the sky. However, all Tom saw were stars and deactivated suborbitals. Tom learns that he is in space, in an anonymous subortital with no internet access other than Vengerov himself, almost like he had been erased from the world. Tom loses hope, and between the loss of his knowledge and downloaded skills, the unending isolation, the false kindness shown to him by Vengerov, the helplessness Tom begins to associate with anyone (usually Vengerov) touching his neck, and the doctored memories that start to show up in his processor (the memories from the census device, only changed, showing his friends as horrible people), Tom begins to buckle under the stress of it all, and eventually ends up giving Vengerov neural sovereignty over him. There are other ways to reprogram a person. However, Vengerov still isn't happy with what he has, saying that Tom's will is blaring too much into his. The next time Tom is let out, Vengerov tells Tom that he is going to send Tom's friends pictures of what Tom looks like now, and shows Tom the pictures of him looking sad, defeated, small. Tom desperately asks him not to, and Vengerov tells Tom that if he is given one reason he will not send the pictures. Tom desperately tries to explain that Vengerov can't send the pictures because then his friends will think he is weak and pathetic and disgusting, and when he starts crying Tom has no strength left to even fight back when Vengerov, the man he used to hate, comforts him. All Tom can think of are the doctored memories of his friends that hate him, how the whole world hates him, about the cruelty of the encloser. Vengerov then uses the moment to call Tom Vanya, and plant the seeds for Tom to adopt the alternate identity of Vanya. Vengerov calls Tom Vanya from then on, and more of more of Vanya's memories end up in Tom's processor (memories of Vanya being dependant on Joseph, the one person who bothered to protect him from bullies. Stockholm syndrome right there). When Tom finally fully adopts the alternate identity of Vanya (including his stutter), Vengerov gives Vanya a rabbit who Vengerov then names Ushanka at Vanya's request. Vengerov then goes about destroying his enemies using Vanya's ability, while Vanya fixates on Ushanka, the only thing he can control and care for. Tom remains Vanya until Vengerov attempts to go and kill/arrest Blackburn, when Tom overcomes Vanya long enough to save Blackburn, then Wyatt. Tom completely regains control after seeing his best friend Vik, and remembering his true feelings about his friends. During the attack Blackburn is saved by Medusa, and the existance of another ghost is revealed to Vengerov. Vengerov attempts to put Vanya back in control of Tom, even going as far as killing Ushanka. Tom only allows it when he realizes that he does love someone more than Ushanka, and that person is Medusa. Tom realizes that he took her place, he jumped in front of the knife (metaphorically), and that he would never give her away. Vengerov was at a loss again. Vanya wasn't present, the neural processor was shorted out during the attack, and there was no way to force Tom back into the enclosure than to physically force him in. Deciding against any plan that could result in Vengerov getting injured, Vengerov reminds Tom how removed and far away he is from any kind of help or rescue, and promises to come back with a new restraining node and a census device. He also threatens that there is no reason Vengerov can't confine Tom to the enclosure for years to come. Vengerov leaves, and against all odds Tom finds his fingers, and uses the gun from the Praetorian to break the only window in the suborbital, and uses the bathroom mirror to buffer and use his propulsion to reach the other suborbitals. His machinical fingers don't swell in the vacuum, the reason why he almost manages to pull the escape off. Tom does get far enough from the jammer however to get back in touch with Blackburn, who then had Medusa pop open the hatch and bring him back to Earth. Back on Earth, Tom realizes that while he was stuck in space as Vanya, Vengerov had spread his Austere-Grade processors across the globe. He owned the entire world. Tom and Blackburn (after a pit-stop) head back to the Pentagonal Spire to mount a resistance in stealth mode. Tom also begins to heal from his time with Vengerov, and the psychological damage the event created. Vengerov meanwhile is frantically searching for Tom, and is starting to categorize people into categories depending on how weak, expendable and unnecessary to the function of society people are, the weakest already having algorithms in their processors to end their lives. When Tom and his friends are ready with a plan to end Vengerov's reign, the four of them set out to Obsidian Corp. Blackburn stays behind, a ship at the ready to go and kill Vengerov when his location is found. The rest of the loyal combatants are back at the Spire, hooked in and ready to defend the installation from Vengerov's machines and drones. All the combatants that might possibly fight on the side of Vengerov were flushed out the Spire with a fake warning of a nuclear meltdown, right before the doors to the building were locked. Overall, the plan mostly relies on Tom, his neural link with Blackburn, and Tom's willingness to come in contact with Vengerov over the internet despite all of his bad experiences. At Obsidian Corp, Tom and his friends come in full-force until they reach a neural access port, where Tom hooks in and comes in contact with Vengerov's mind in the system. Vengerov continues to call Tom Vanya and use Tom's traumatic experiences to his advantage, and falls for the trick that Tom and Blackburn thought up. Blackburn would manipulate Tom's vision center to show drones attacking Vengerov's internet hubs, and Vengerov would take Tom to each hub and scramble to defend them from fake attacks. Wyatt would feed a video of Elliot explaining what was happening (along with information on how to program) to Tom and in turn to the people connected to the hubs. Plus, Vengerov scrambling to defend his perfectly safe hubs spread his forces far and wide, buying everyone time. Now that everyone with an Austere-Grade was able to program, and was educated on what was and had happened to them, they were perfectly entitled to trying to find a zero-day exploit in the line of code that prevented everyone with a Vigilant-Grade processor from making an attempt on Jospeph Vengerov's life. Vengerov, Tom and Blackburn (all linked through the internet) had a moment of realization when Vengerov realized that someone was bound to find a flaw, Blackburn realized that he would be the person to receive the zero-day code, and that when Blackburn got the code, he would know where to fin Vengerov. The connection was cut, and on the flight back Blackburn was killed saving Tom and Wyatt from Vengerov's drone. Vengerov disappeared, but a court ruling labeled him a criminal and officially ruined his reputation forever (although Elliot had already done most of that). Vengerov disappeared, and only was found by Tom when Tom realized that Vengerov wasn't acually Joseph, but Vanya (Josephs younger brother) who had been given a neural processor. Because of his unique understanding of Vengerov's motives, Tom was able to correctly guess where Vengerov had hidden himself (which was in the countryside dacha that he had grown up in) and go and capture him. Vengerov was given a choice between going and facing a fair trial, or trying to escape to one of his suborbitals. Vengerov tried to escape, only to find he was drifting aimlessly through space with no communication (except the one-way speaker allowing Tom to speak to him). Tom then informed Vengerov that he had one last choice, the same one Vengerov had given Tom: to stay out in space until his resources were gone, or to take off his helmet. Tom then flew away, and that was the last that is heard of Joseph (actually Ivan/Vanya Vengerov) in the series. Abilities Neural Processor: Vengerov has a neural processor embedded in his head which allows him to interface with the specially adapted ships of the Coalition fleets. Category:Characters